The residents of Rajarajeshwari Nagar have filed a complaint with the local police against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for illegally cutting trees on Tuesday.
The BBMP forest cell is haphazardly issuing notices to cut down the trees in the locality. To stop this the complaint has been filed, the residents said.
"A tree was cut yesterday (Tuesday) claiming that it was posing a threat to the pedestrians. But it would have been enough had they cut a few branches on the top. However, the entire tree was axed," said Joe Hoover, a nearby resident.
"This is not the first time that they are indulging in such activities. They have marked another tree to raze it down. The forest officer Bhanu Prakash, deputy forest range officer and the BBMP are very lenient when it comes to giving permission to chop trees. We have lost 40 and odd trees just for lame reasons," he added.
Sometimes, they cut the trees just to give a better visibility to commercial shops covered with tree branches. This is certainly ...

Residents of Rajajinagar Assembly constituency can air their problems at Janaspandana - Citizens for Change, the civic grievance redress platform provided by DH and Prajavani, December 16.
The programme will be held at Rajarajeshwari Kalyana Mantapa near the RTO office in Rajajinagar 2nd Block. MLA S Suresh Kumar, along with officers from the BBMP, Bescom, the BWSSB and the police will take part.
Residents can air grievances on waste segregation, bad roads, streetlights, maintenance of parks and playgrounds, etc.
Those interested can register at the venue from 9 am onwards on December 16. The programme will start at 10 am. You can also register online by writing to janaspandana@printersmysore. co.in or #PVJanaspandana on Twitter.
For details, call 9448701058 (between 9 am to 5 pm).
DH News ...

The BWSSB would ask for Occupancy Certificate to residences with five kitchens and commercial areas with more than 300 square metres, sparing a large number of flats from penalty.
The Board has been charging a fine on those flats that obtain water connection without producing OC. With the penalty hurting a large number of residents, the issue was raised at a special council meeting of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to which BWSSB Chairman Tushar Girinath was invited.
"According to Karnataka Municipal Act, we are supposed to give OCs for residential spaces with more than five kitchens, irrespective of the floor on which they are located," BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said. "OCs is given for commercial spaces when they are bigger than 300 sq meters."
Following the clarification, Girinath assured that the BWSSB will seek OCs only for those residential and commercial spaces falling within the mentioned stipulation and will not penalize other flats and apartment complexes.
However, at ...

Ever watched The Jetsons and wondered how you could get into one of those pod taxis and swoosh to your destination? This could soon be a reality in Bengaluru because the BBMP has planned to introduce the Personal Rapid Transit System (pod taxi service) near the Metro Stations and bus stations (in selected stretches).
With dug-up roads and traffic snarls becoming a part of ones routine, this proposal is being welcomed by citizens. Despite limited feeder bus services from Metro stations and connecting buses from bus stations, these pod taxis could be a blessing in disguise for those who depend on public transport, vouches Usha Iyengar, a teacher and resident of Kengeri.
"Imagine a break from commuting on bad roads, blaring horns and road rage? What more could you ask for? A pod taxi service at places like Silk Board junction or in Whitefield would cut down on so many hours of travel time," she says.
Usha points out that once such a service is introduced, it should be available every three to five ...

6. "Do bans really work?" ask people on the street
There have been arguments in favour of keeping highways free from the pub menace. A regular, heavy drinker would keep stock in his or her vehicle, but it is better not to attract an occasional drinker towards liquor with an outlet on the way.
7. Wrong parking, overspeeding, the nightmares
Many areas in the city have turned accident-prone zones due, primarily, to a large number of private buses violating traffic rules. The police list out common complaints against private buses: Wrong parking, stopping buses on roads to pick up passengers, overspeeding, signal-jumping, pick-up point on congested roads, competing with rival operators and government buses, besides overloading.
8. African students, bridging divides
Trapped in the cross-fire of cultural divisions, are African students in Bengaluru getting stereotyped? Are local communities who complain about the misdeeds of a few students unfairly branded as racist? Or is there a genuine chance for consensus, ...

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) came under attack from the members of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the second time in as many months.
At the monthly council meeting on Monday, members cutting across party lines criticised the BWSSB for making the installation of sewage treatment plants (STPs) mandatory for existing apartment complexes with more than 50 units built prior to February 2016 and 20 units for those built post that period.
In November, members criticised the BWSSB for penalising its consumers who failed to produce the building occupancy certificate (OC).
On Monday, the members urged Mayor R Sampath Raj to get the BWSSB to withdraw its mandatory order on the STPs.
Apartment dwellers are protesting against the boards decision claiming that the older apartment complexes do not have proper infrastructure to install the STPs.
They also said that sewage lines have been connected to the internal drainage system.
The opposition party leaders complained that the ...

The State cabinet on Monday approved an action plan of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) involving a cost of ₹2,091 crore for the year 2017-18. It contains various development works in th...

Residents of Sanjaynagar launched a campaign against the lack of footpaths and walking space in the area.
On Sunday, hundreds of people formed a human chain demanding their right to walk.
The campaign, Adjust Beda, Footpath Beku (No adjustment, we want footpaths), started at 9.30 am from the Radhakrishna temple in the locality.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad came to address the concerns of the campaigners.
The residents raised many queries about the condition of roads and footpath. They complained about the pathetic condition of the footpath.
"In our area, there are many senior citizens who need proper footpath to walk. I have seen many people falling down while walking on the footpath and being hospitalised. Hence, we organised the campaign, so that the authorities could construct pedestrian-friendly footpaths," said Vignan Gowda, member of CiFOS (Citizens for Sustainability).
Recently, CiFOS in collaboration with Directorate of Urban Land Transport(DULT) and ...

Gandhi Bazaar, the busy market in South Bengalurus Basavanagudi, has been chosen for the implementation of the Sustainable Supply of Perishables into Cities &acirc;&euro;" Green Logistics Project (GLP) to improve the management of fruit and vegetable street markets in urban settings.
The project is a collaboration between the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport and Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammernarbeit, Germany, to develop street markets. The project aims to make informal markets more appealing and competitive to the urban consumer and develop the street markets with a focus on the infrastructure and hygiene.
As part of the project, introductory public workshops are being organised with Residents Welfare Associations for the residents of Gandhi Bazaar.
The first workshop will be held on Sunday at 10.30 am at Abalashrama on DVG Road, Basavanagudi. Chickpet MLA, R V Devaraj, and BBMP officials will take part.
DH News ...

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is yet to receive any formal intimation from Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on pulling down the Jayadeva flyover for the second phase of Namma Metro.
However, the Palike officials have extended their complete support to the project. "This project will be connecting important parts of the city such as Silk Board junction, Madiwala, BTM Layout, Koramangala and people coming from Bommanahalli also. The traffic snarls will be solved and the time of commute will be reduced," says BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad.
BBMP, he informs, has conducted several meetings with BMRCL and the metro work will start soon. BMRCL officials were not available for comments.
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Demolition worries
At the Jayadeva junction, getting anxious by the day over the demolition, eatery owner Krishna Murthy worries about this misguided priority. "There is no planning, no ideation. I am forced to wind up my business of 25 years here. ...

A former JD(S) corporator was chased down and brutally hacked to death in broad daylight by a gang of 15, just 200 metres from his house in Hegganahalli, North Bengaluru, on Saturday. Police suspect old political rivalry behind the murder.
M B Govinde Gowda (58), who represented Hegganahalli in the BBMP council from 2010 to 2015, tried to dash into the Mathrushree Kalyana Mantapa but the assailants chased him down before hacking him with machetes and longs. The incident occurred between 5 pm and 5.30 pm, police said.
Passersby took Gowda to a hospital in Sunkadakatte but he died on the way. Meanwhile, the jurisdictional Rajagopalanagar police rushed to the spot and conducted an inspection. They opened a case of murder after Gowdas family filed a complaint.
Police suspect the murder stemmed from the violent rivalry between two gangs.
In November 2016, Gowda and his wife, Varamahalakshmi (48), were arrested for hiring a gang of supari killers to eliminate their rival, Chikkathimme Gowda, a local BJP ...

Bengaluru flyovers are constructed only to be demolished or redesigned later. This has come to the fore once again with the Jayadeva flyover scheduled to be demolished soon for a Metro line on the same path. Many feel that such mega projects should be meticulously planned to avoid disasters as it involves human resource, time and money.
DH speaks to a cross-section of Bengalureans to ascertain their views on such unplanned projects. One of them, Manjunath Basavaraju, Regional Procurement Manager, Danske IT opines that flyovers in the city have been built unscientifically.
He explains, "A few of them are too small while others are lengthy without proper planning. They are not built to ease traffic along a stretch but only to decongest a specific intersection. This is wrong. These flyovers should be built with an intention to decongest multiple intersections on a long stretch. The entry and exit points should have enough room for motorists to pass through."
Basavaraju also laments that these flyovers are ...

A former councillor in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Janata Dal (Secular) leader Govinde Gowda, 58, was hacked to death in Hegganahalli cross on the city’s outskirts on Saturday. Around ...

Local residents, activists and representatives of Kadu Malleshwara Friends Circle protested against the cutting of a 30-year-old mahogany tree in Malleswaram on Friday.

The tree was cut down by the staff of Kalyan Jewellers.

B K Shivaram, a retired police officer, termed chopping of the tree a criminal offence. The staff claimed they had permission from the BBMPs Forest Cell to cut the tree on December 5. The protesters dispute the claim and plan to file an RTI application. The staff also claimed they would plant 100 saplings.

Actor Shivarajkumar, who had come to inaugurate the showroom, planted a sapling to pacify the protesters. He said chopping the tree was wrong and clarified that he didnt know who had cut it down.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is planning to call tenders to build a multi-level parking facility at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology soon.
The plan was proposed in the BBMP budget 2017-18.
"Director of Kidwai institute had asked me if we could find a solution to the parking problem here. The project will cost Rs 15 crore and it will be helpful for the people to park their vehicles here," said M K Gunashekar, a former standing committee chairman, Tax and Finance, BBMP, who had included the proposal in the budget.
"About 150 cars and 100 two-wheelers can be parked here. The new facility will come up in the place of an old building which is behind the hospital complex but inside the compound of the premises," he said.
"About 200 doctors and other staff of our hospital have cars. Some outpatients and their relatives also bring their cars. But there is no space to park them. If they introduce the multi-level car parking facility, it will be useful and we have identified about 1 acre ...